This is The Battle Plan for Peace - Bible Study

What if our minds could be retrained to see peace instead of chaos? Join us for a transformative exploration as we harness the power of scripture to capture and redirect those rebellious thoughts that threaten our relationships and spiritual harmony. Drawing from personal experiences, including the trials within my second marriage, we shine a light on the urgency of addressing negative thought patterns. This episode promises to equip you with insights from 2 Corinthians 10:5 and practical tools to foster healthier relationships and spiritual growth.

Building a strong, supportive church family is more than just a Sunday commitment. It's about creating a resilient community that stands firm against life's storms. Through the analogy of folding paper, we illustrate how deep connections within the church can act as a fortress against external challenges. With a focus on humility, leadership, and the true essence of a church, listeners are challenged to reflect on their role in fostering a vibrant, interconnected body of believers. The significance of a prayer team and personal connections is highlighted as essential elements in nurturing a church that thrives beyond the pastor's leadership.

Transform your mindset and protect your joy with our four spiritual principles. By adopting the replacement, rewire, reframe, and rejoice principles, you'll learn to replace the lies of the world with the truth of God's word. Our personal stories of overcoming anger and focusing on positivity underscore the importance of letting God guide your thoughts and actions. We also invite you to engage with our Faith and Failures Facebook community, where you can connect with like-minded individuals to discuss faith and cultural issues in a supportive environment. Don't miss the chance to discover how these principles can lead to a life filled with peace and spiritual fulfillment.

Chapters

• 0:00 Battle Plan for Peace
• 15:34 Creating a Strong, Supportive Church Family
• 19:06 Creating a Battle Plan for Peace
• 22:28 Rewiring Your Mind and Replacing Lies
• 31:50 Renewing Your Mind for Transformation
• 43:46 Protecting Joy and Finding Peace
• 59:13 Faith and Failures Facebook Community

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Before we get into today's video, I just wanted to say thank you to all of the new subscribers. If you haven't yet, consider subscribing, hit that bell notification so that you can see every time I put out a new video. A major portion of you that watch my videos haven't subscribed yet, so why not? It's free. You can also find a PayPal link below if you want to give a one time or give a monthly to support the channel. Anything, great or small, is appreciated.

Speaker 1: 0:26

Now let's get into the video. What is up? Faith and failures, people. Are we going any further? I'm just going to check my audio. Are we going any further? I'm just going to check my audio. Got it, so we're going to be talking a little bit tonight.

Speaker 1: 0:50

This is kind of a continuation. We skipped a couple weeks of a kind of a Bible series that I've actually preached at my church, and so if you haven't yet, if you don't mind, please like this video. If you're watching on YouTube, helps the algorithm Subscribe to the channel. Make sure you hit that bell notification so that you can see when we go live and we put out new videos and when we put out shorts. So one thing we're going to be talking about tonight is a. Well, let's just start off with scripture. So what I want to show you is is this go to, if you want to take a screenshot with your phone, if you want to write this scripture down. This is kind of going to be throughout this entire kind of series. It's going to be a common thread that I'm going to probably say over and over and over again, because it's important.

Speaker 1: 1:47

I tell my churches if you don't know if it's your first time here or you've been watching just for a little bit, I'm a pastor of a church. I tell my people all the time that repetition sorry repetition produces replication. So what I mean by that is, the more you do something, the more you repeat something, the more you will be able to remember something. And the whole reason I decided to start doing more of a Bible study type and diving deeper into scripture is because I wanted you, as the viewer, to be discipled better than me just reacting to some videos, and I'll still do that when I have time. But to me, spending my time, my time is very precious, I'm very busy, and so I decided that I would rather, instead of quantity, put out a lot of videos, do multiple things in one setting. I would rather give a very deep and very biblical and theologically sound episode or series, and that's kind of where this stems from. So this will be more of my routine and also, too.

Speaker 1: 2:50

So I watched and I reacted to some of his videos on here before, and what I don't want this channel to be, what I don't want this podcast to be, is something that I am not Like. I don't want to chase after what somebody else is doing. I want to do what I'm called to do and I know that I'm called to preach and I know that I'm called to teach. So that's my heart. I have the heart of a teacher. If, if you know me, I'm actually wearing the shirt right now. I tell him media it's a media company that I have to do weddings, real estate, drone stuff, all that photography and I I really love that. But when people start asking me what do I do with it? Uh, they, they try to pick my brain of what do I use for for this and that, like right now I'm using a light. Uh, somebody asked me at church Sunday. She was like can I call you Because I want to shoot a video, but I don't know where to start. I don't know what to do and I'm like, yes, I love to teach. I have another YouTube channel that's called Steven Tillman and it had I have a whole series of 26 videos where I teach my real estate process of shooting photography. So I love to teach. It is, I believe, one of my spiritual gifts. I really enjoy it. It doesn't take a lot for me to get excited about something and want to learn and dive deep into something.

Speaker 1: 4:08

So, that being said, let's get into our key text. So this is going to be in second, as you can see on your screen, second Corinthians 10, five, and it says and if you think about the, the verbiage of this scripture, the way the author Paul is writing and the way he is framing this up, is that our thoughts can be our biggest enemy. I don't know about you, but I've been in seasons where my thoughts would run away. I'll tell you in just a minute, after we read this scripture, a story of some arguments, some holy disagreements that me and my wife got into when we were first married. So we destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people, keeps me, from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

Speaker 1: 4:57

So one of the things that I had to learn in a short amount of time when I was married to my new spouse in 2015, was that I would have these fights. So I spent a lot of time on the streets, I was homeless, I spent time on drugs, I spent time in alcoholism and I destroyed. I had a fair, my fair share of destroying my first marriage and so putting a child through divorce, and he was very young I don't even know if he can walk yet, or he was close right after, and so all this stuff was still things that I thought I pushed past. I actually realized once I got married again that those things were still buried in there, and so what happened was I would copy and paste attributes of a previous damaged relationship and I'll copy and paste that onto her, and so what that would do was unfairly um, unfairly make it where she would pay for things that she actually would never do. And what does that mean? That means that she would have a fight with me in my head. So I would get upset about something, and in my head I'm I know, because I've been here before. Right, I have all the answers. I know how this conversation is going to go. I know exactly what she's going to say and what happened was excuse me, in this argument and in this destructive behavior of copying and pasting my past relationship, my past trauma it was very real to me my past trauma onto a new person, I ended up robbing myself of peace.

Speaker 1: 6:53

So today, I want this episode to be completely about a plan, a battle plan for peace. Now, why do I say battle plan? Why do I frame it up that way? For peace. Now, why do I say battle plan? Why do I frame it up that way? Because peace is something that the enemy tries to destroy. He knows that if he can get you off, if he can get you thinking wrong, if he can get you confused or conflated in arguments and struggles and issues, he can get you and rob you of your peace, and this leads to being robbed of your joy, and the Bible says that the joy of the Lord is our strength. So, for robbed of joy, for robbed of peace, we're literally being stripped down bare to where we will have no more fight, no more desire to fight, and this is what happens a lot in marriages. You end up having things that's undiscussed, untalked about, and people end up just slowly separating from each other because they don't want to have, excuse me, a real conversation, and their, their peace ends up being destroyed because they wouldn't fight for it.

Speaker 1: 8:04

There was not a battle plan. So in my perspective, my, my perspective as a pastor, my perspective as a man you're watching this and you're a guy, you understand, you've probably done this multiple times, and women do it too, but it's in my experience what I've seen is it's mostly men that will suffer in silence, never say anything. They won't get a battle plan. They never say anything. They won't get a battle plan. They will exclude and seclude themselves and just be trapped up here and in here and nobody ever knows they're struggling or going through anything, and that will damage everything it touches. It is not something that is easily obtained or gained. It has to be fought for, and this is why I wanted to call this the battle plan for peace.

Speaker 1: 8:50

So I want I want to uh, kind of grapple with something for a minute. So in today's culture, I want you to think about this. Actually, I'll turn it like this so in today's culture, we oftentimes can find ourselves overwhelmed, like we will find ourselves in the trap of complacency, the trap of redundancy. I don't know if you've ever done it, but I've done life in such a way to where you, you, you get in this groove. Okay, it starts off as a groove and it ends up stuck in a rut. You get these, these patterns down, you enjoy, you know what you got going on, but then, uh, I don't know if you've noticed or not, but after a while, ladies, your husband may get bored with you. If you are the same all the time, now he wants you to always be how he remembers you. And then, fellas, we always never change, we stay the same or we get worse, and it ends up being a struggle to keep it fresh with her because we no longer pursue her, because now we have her. So we end up having to have a conversation with each other that will, in return, help us remind ourselves why we fell in love, why we're even here. So let's forget why we even got married. Like I've heard people say, why did I even marry this person? Well, you know, know, we all make mistakes, but you're stuck, you are stuck. So if, if, you will follow along. So I want you to think about this.

Speaker 1: 10:39

Being overwhelmed with the burdens of life, being constantly robbed, can constantly rob you of your peace. Now, what do I mean by that? So the moments, the overwhelming circumstances of life, I am reminded, as a believer, of this powerful truth that I need God. Let me move this. I must rely on God to renew my mind. I need God to renew my mind because I cannot do it myself. If you don't believe me, if you've ever tried to do things yourself to get peace up here, you'll get a false sense of peace, just like we try to find joy, but it's in a temporary, false sense of happiness that actually has no substance to it. And then we walked around. We walk around malnourished because we think we're getting substance from something that actually has no true substance. So his truth is not just a shield, remember we talked about a few weeks ago. It's not my truth, it's not your truth, it's God's truth. We must rely on God's truth.

Speaker 1: 12:08

Now I want you to ask yourself this when do you place Jesus in your life? Is he Lord or is he not? Now, if you go to church, chances are just like if someone were to ask are you saved or are you a Christian? You'll start naming off all the things you do, the places that you go? Yeah, I go to church. I go to church over here oh yeah, I'm a member over here.

Speaker 1: 12:37

When that has nothing to do with your salvation? Oh yeah, I pray and I read every single day. That has nothing to do with your salvation and I read every single day that has nothing to do with your salvation. The Bible says that by faith, through grace, jesus Christ is the only doorway into heaven. You cannot earn it. So that means you can't read enough of the Bible. You can't pray enough hours in the day. You can't do enough. You can't earn it. You can't do it. Now, faith without works is dead. That means that once you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and as your savior, that does produce works, but works does not gain you salvation. So is Jesus actually Lord of your life?

Speaker 1: 13:16

Now, how do you measure this? How, how, what is something I like? Tangible things, like to be able to put my hands on it. That's how I learn. Like I can watch videos. That's great. But uh, it's like I need, I need. I need to put my hands on things to learn. I have to have it that way. I have to for it, for me to retain it, I have to touch it.

Speaker 1: 13:36

So how do you measure if Christ is Lord of your life? So I said this actually last Sunday to my congregation. I said if you don't know, if you have truly given everything over to God, look at the people that don't serve God, that don't know God. How are, how is their life compared to your life? Are you doing the same things? And I don't mean the restaurants you go to, I don't mean you know, do you shop at Walmart and you shopping with the same people in the same aisle? You all going to hell. It's not what I'm saying. I'm saying is the fundamental things that you do every day that should scream or should show Christ. Are they living a life in contradiction to what the word says? And are you measuring up and living how the word says, or do you look just like the world?

Speaker 1: 14:28

Churches are producing weak Christians who don't actually have any discipleship or discernment of what actually is saved and what is not. So we end up living lives that are not anything close to a Christian walk. We live lives according to how we feel about things or how we see things, and it ends up being a diluted, dumbed down version of what God actually intended for us to walk in and we have a lot of non-authority Christians. We don't have the authority in Christ like we should, that all of us who accepted Christ as our savior should have the authority. We're not stronger than the dominions and Satan that lives here, but Christ in us gives us the power and authority over those that are here in rule. So ask yourself is Jesus Lord of your life? Where are your thoughts falling short of his life-giving truth? Remember, we're looking at the battle plan for peace, so we have to have some sort of plan.

Speaker 1: 15:34

You shouldn't go into your life or live your day-to-day life, or if you have torment in your mind, if you have issues in the way that you think, the way that you see yourself, the way that you perceive others, the way you receive instruction or correction, like all of these things are so important to have a healthy walk and be a part of a healthy church, to be a healthy Christian. You giving out correction in love is just equally important as you being able to receive correction from a brother or sister in Christ because you've done something wrong and you've stepped out of line. And we as Christians, as believers, have the right to speak into each other's lives and help each other get back on the path that we need to get back on. The problem is, people come to church and they want to be a part of the church, but they forget that the church is the people and the people are supposed to help the other people. The church is supposed to build up and strengthen and help guide each other in the church. It's not just a pastor's prerogative, it's also the people's prerogative, like it is mandated for the church.

Speaker 1: 16:36

Here's what I try to set up in my church. This is a little bit of a rabbit trail sidestep, but just think about this for a second. The church, if you're a believer and you go to a church, if the, if the pastor or whatever you call them, lead pastor, then there's executive pastor, assistant pastor, whatever they're trying to label it as today I get so annoyed with labels but whatever, if, if you were at your church service and the pastor did not show up or he stepped away, could your church still function and still be effective in the community? Now, that's a very serious question and you probably need to pause and think for a second. But I guarantee you the healthy churches the pastor can step away and things will go on as usual. It's very rare I had this set up in my church. It's very rare.

Speaker 1: 17:26

On a Sunday morning I do. Sometimes, especially if I feel led, I do, I will come down from the stage and I will pray. But if not, I stand on the stage and I pray over the people. So what I've set up is that I have a prayer team come up, they stand in the altars and they face towards the audience and so when someone comes up, they're received, they're loved, they're talked to. I have instruction for all of them to make that connection with these people that come up that need somebody to pray with them, reach out to them during the week, get their number, get their email, whatever it takes to reach out to them, make that connection and be connected with them, which is the name of our church.

Speaker 1: 18:04

So I'm folding over on top of. Like a piece of paper is very thin. It can be holes, can be punched in it pretty easy. But the more you fold the paper on top of itself, the thicker it becomes, the harder it is to tear and the harder it is to puncture. And so that's what I'm trying to do is create this fabric in the church, this folding, so to speak, in the church, to where, when things happen, when issues arise, these people are so involved in each other's lives that the devil can't just come and poke holes in things. He actually has to do some serious work to get any damage done.

Speaker 1: 18:41

And so I don't come down. Sometimes I do, especially if there's like everybody's being like. Last Sunday I came down to pray with the, a fellow believer. He was having some issues, uh with a friend of his, was sick and and uh wanted to believe healing over her and everything, and, and so I I came down off the stage. But I try to set it up to where, if I never came to church, the church would still be the church Like. That's how I set my church up.

Speaker 1: 19:06

I don't. I don't come in with like an authority. I have the authority to come in and say things are going to be the way things are going to be and it has to be that way. I'm the pastor by our denomination. I have that right. I can make, I can do whatever I want, but I don't because I don't think it will bear the fruit that is good and healthy for the body, and that is number one. On.

Speaker 1: 19:28

What we should be worried about is what is going on in the body, what is being infected and affected, what is it that needs attention, what is it that has holes in it, what needs to be folded over, what needs to be strengthened, what needs to be examined holes in it, what needs to be folded over, what needs to be strengthened, what needs to be examined. And if you do that, you will design for yourself a battle plan for peace, because there won't be room, there won't be cracks in the foundation, there won't be areas and places, or not as many. There's always something that can happen. I mean, come on, I'm doing this at 830 at night because everything happened today and made it. Where I could not get online, that's fine. In the last two weeks I couldn't get online. Stuff kept happening. I'm not going to stress about it. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

Speaker 1: 20:16

And if we look that way and we have a plan before we get inside of the pressure, are you hearing me? If we have a plan before we feel the pressure, we will not crumble under the pressure. We can actually stand and be healthy believers. So is Jesus Lord of your life? Is he truly Lord of your life? Does he have every part of you. Now, some people they'll automatically say yes, amen, in church and then they go do what they were doing last weekend, the weekend before and the weekend before and there's no change in their life. So what that tells me, that's the fruit of their heart. They're bearing sinful fruit, they're bearing fleshly fruit. So that means I mean we're allowed to judge People. Try to use that. Don't judge me. Only God can judge me. That should scare the crap out of you, because he is holy, all right.

Speaker 1: 21:16

So are you stuck? Think about this. What is the negative effects? Why do we need to think on things above? Why do we need to be people of peace, believers of peace? Why do we need to seek after peace? Because, if not, we'll end up doing this. We'll be stuck in a negative, hurtful and poisonous rut. So what will you do? Well, like I said a second ago, you need to get a battle plan.

Speaker 1: 21:44

Now, if you've ever studied MMA or boxing or if you've ever seen one of those matches, dude, they tear each other up. So, outside of strength, techniques and tools, how do they win Consistency? Day in, day out, they show up, they beat themselves, they get beat they over and over and over and over. They continue to persist, even under pressure. So let's look at four tools of renewing your mind, four tools of renewing your mind. So, number one we've touched on these as we've been going along in this little series.

Speaker 1: 22:28

Number one the replacement principle, the rewire principle, the reframe principle and the rejoice principle. How many of you know, you got to take time and praise the Lord for what he has done, even if you don't feel it. So let's go on the first one replacement principle. Look over in John 8, verse 44. This is point number one, the replacement principle. He has always hated the truth verse 44, because there is no. It's talking about Satan. There's no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Speaker 1: 23:11

We understand that our enemy uses lies as a weapon. It is his way, it is what he does, it is how he does it. It is what he does, it is how he does it, and you need to be able to recognize, to have a battle plan and recognize the lies when they come up against you, so that you can speak truth. When Jesus was tempted, we talked about this. Last time he went out. He was led by the spirit. He was tempted. What happened? Jesus went out there. He knew scripture. He knew how to battle what the enemy was saying. He knew Satan was going to use scripture. He was going to manipulate and twist, but he knew that if he stuck with what he knew the truth he would not be defeated. And that's exactly how it defeated him. So we understand that our enemy uses lies as weapons.

Speaker 1: 24:00

Now the replacement principle teaches us to remove the lie and replace it with God's truth. Remove the lie, replace it with God's truth, because Satan is the father of lies. So if it is coming out of his mouth, it is a lie. If it is in conflict with scripture, it is a lie. If it is in conflict with what God says about you who he says you are it is a lie. If it is in conflict with what God says about you who he says you are it is a lie. Satan is the father of lies. Now let's look at the key text again. So, now that you're thinking about it, you got this in your mind. You understand that Satan is the father of lies. So he's going to try to lie to you, to trip you up. He's going to try to lie to you, to manipulate you.

Speaker 1: 24:43

Go to the second scripture again. Don't copy the behaviors of this world. Oh, I'm sorry, that's the sorry. We destroy every proud thought, every obstacle it keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. Don't let your thoughts run. You Tell your thoughts how it's going to be. So the second point is I guess I didn't put a thing for it, but that's okay, just write this one down.

Speaker 1: 25:18

Then the rewire principle. Now I want you to think about this. God doesn't try to turn you, turn a bad person into a good person. He doesn't try to make you fade into good. The Bible says that we kill our flesh daily. That means something needs to die. What was can no longer be, or you will be ineffective as a new christian or as a believer, because you're allowing things that should not be alive to be alive in your life. And I I say this it kind of confused somebody the other day, but I'll say it to you and hopefully you understand that if you are in 99% obedience and that 1% is disobedience, you're still disobeying God. Think about that Like. God wants all of you, he wants every part, he wants every piece, the good, the bad, the ugly. He wants everything so that he can be the true Lord of your life. We are to kill our flesh by being a living sacrifice.

Speaker 1: 26:23

If you come into Christ was because someone at a church told you to, or because everybody else in your family is, or you didn't have anybody else to turn to, so you're like, okay, well, this seems like the next best thing. You aren't grasping what Christ, being the Lord of your life, truly is Like. You need to understand that when you come to Jesus, it should cost you everything, everything you are, every ambition, every desire. You must pick up your cross. What's the cross for it leads you to death? Pick up your cross. What's the cross for it leads you to death? Through a spiritual death, the heart that was of stone will be brought back to life through Jesus Christ and made of flesh. So he takes what was dead and he makes it alive again through himself. Life comes through Christ. Death comes for all those who stay in their sinful nature.

Speaker 1: 27:21

You don't hear it's not very popular on the YouTube preachers or the, or the big churches or what you know. I, at my church, I give an altar call, which means a call to salvation every single Sunday. I've done. My dad did it growing up and it was one thing I picked up from him that I think is so valid and so vital to the church being strong and the church being like the church. What are we doing if we're not trying to get people saved and to know Jesus but there comes that initial step out to do something? There's no magical prayer that you say and it gets you into heaven. It is a lifestyle of sanctification every single day that you must follow, that you must cling to and that you must take everything that you are and lay it at the feet of Jesus and pick up his life, his will for you. And that's really hard to do. Like saying yes to Jesus is like stupid easy, because in that moment it may cost you a little pride, it may cost you. I mean, in that moment it's probably one of the best feelings you can feel when you say yes to jesus.

Speaker 1: 28:25

I remember I don't remember the time or the day, but I remember that the, I remember the. The moment don't have a date. I don't remember I was out of jail, had to be probably a few weeks after and I was just like ugly crying. You know what I mean. Like I stood up from the altar and there was snot. It was just like you know. I had a big old beard then and I had a bag of meth in my pocket and I still went home that day and I smoked it. I cried the whole time. I didn't even get to enjoy it, but I knew I was doing wrong, because I just told God I wanted everything to change and I didn't. I didn't do it right. I still didn't give him everything, even though I had a powerful moment, a powerful moment in the altars, when I stood up. I remember feeling like a giant. I felt like I was 10 feet tall, but I didn't stick to what I promised at that altar. And so what happened? Well, even though it was a powerful moment in the altar and I went home and I smoked that little thing of meth I had left and I cried.

Speaker 1: 29:38

It was after that that I began to go through the painful process of really allowing Christ to be Lord of my life. That's what I'm trying to say to you. Like you can have a powerful moment in the altar, but if you don't actually let him be the Lord of your life, you wasted your time. God's not looking for emotionalism in the altar. If you want peace in your life, don't come to an altar and try to be emotional. Don't come down to an altar and and pledge to God you're going to do this and you're going to be different. You're going to talk different or whatever. Put some action behind what you're claiming.

Speaker 1: 30:18

Start reading the words so that you can know what God expects of you, because this is why we have weak Christians in the church. We act like God does not expect anything from us after we come to salvation and know his son. That is the exact opposite. We are called every single day to kill the flesh, to die daily so that we can live, sanctified and be a holy, righteous child before a holy God. And I think sometimes we lose that reference, that reverence of God, and we don't actually act like God is holy anymore. We think he's nothing but grace and mercy and that's it, when in reality he is all of, but he is so much more. And I believe that God is calling the church, the church people, to be more of what he expects and stop being so bland, tasteless Christians. So the rewire principle you have to take what was, destroy it, allow the spirit to destroy it and let God rebuild it. And that's the beautiful thing, when you allow.

Speaker 1: 31:25

When I had that moment, it was like, oh, that was yes, that was beautiful, that was awesome. And then I failed, like I don't know if it was that day, the next day, whatever it was, doesn't matter. And I failed a couple of times. After that I tried to stay right, but it just I didn't. There was some serious things in my life that had to be buffed out and I had to exclude myself from the area that I was living in because things were too easy for me to get ahold of.

Speaker 1: 31:50

So what does salvation mean? Well, let's look at this next scripture Romans, chapter 12, verse 2. Now, this is salvation, wrapped up in a few words Don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way that you think. Why is it so important to change the way that you think? Because if you can change, if you allow God to change up here, it will bleed down into here.

Speaker 1: 32:18

So if you have a bad mindset, say, say you have an addiction, uh, addiction, fellas. Let's talk to you for a second. Let's get real. If you have an addiction with pornography, you're allowing that filth to go into here. What does it do? You cannot watch it for six months and be clean, and you can still have replays up here in your mind, am I right? You will still have replays of the things even if you come to God and you are so sorry for once again messing up? And you can live six months with clean, sober, not touching it, and you can still see it in your mind because God needs to. It's a process to wash all the things, all the dirty, out. You can, in a moment, get saved, but sometimes it takes a lifetime in the process of sanctification, to getting closer and closer.

Speaker 1: 33:12

And listen, I'm very blunt and I'm very honest. And listen, I'm very blunt and I'm very honest. There's a difference in messing up and struggling and living a life style that is in direct conflict with God. Those are two separate, different things. I just want to be clear on that. So don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for your life, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Speaker 1: 33:47

Now this verse. It simply maps out a couple of things. Let's talk about it for a second. I have to get a new thing, so let's talk about this just for a second. Let's get this down here, all right? So this verse explains the rewire principle that we just talked about, where we can create it's so crazy how god created our minds. We can literally create new neural pathways to replace old, damaged ones. Like I've said this a thousand times I say it all the time and it is so true your life will move in the direction of your strongest thoughts. However you think, so will your body move. If your mind is thinking in a direction, so will the rest of you follow. So you have to make sure that you are locking down those thoughts, like we read in the beginning, because if you don't, your life will end up moving in a direction that is not pleasing to god. It won't be fun for you.

Speaker 1: 34:45

One of the most frustrating and, uh, miserable times of my life is where I knew what I was supposed to be doing, where I was supposed to be, and I was running from God. I was running hard from God, and it was not fun. I thought I was having fun, but instead, what I was doing is just making things worse for myself down the road and leaving a wake of bodies Like, for instance, let me so right now I'm in the process of I think I'm going to get a different vehicle. Right now I'm in the process of I think I'm going to get a different vehicle. The one I have has passed 160,000 miles. Hadn't had any issues out of it, but I am, I'm going to change, I'm going to add a little money to it and like, even if I do a payment, it'll be like $50 a month. So my son is the same right now.

Speaker 1: 35:38

He's been, he's about to turn 16 in November and he is itching to look at vehicles, this and that I think he's found one, probably, I think, excuse me, by a truck from his grandpa. We're under, we are parents that we were first borns in our house and we didn't get the best of anything. So he's getting the rundown vehicle. I don't care how much money we have. He's going to have to learn. Character is what it is Now. That being said, because he's been talking with his friends, because I've been looking online, and now he's getting excited about me getting another vehicle and he's looking. I've been looking online. And now he's getting excited about me getting another vehicle and he's looking.

Speaker 1: 36:19

We were getting ice cream earlier because he got all A's and Cora took our first steps today, and so we were out celebrating with some ice cream. Andy's ice cream, that's the lord's ice cream, just like Chick-fil-a's guy's chicken. Come on somebody. We were out there and every car that passed by he knows what car I'm looking for and he's's like looking like. He's like Dad, there's one right there, there's one, and he's like pointing it out. And so this is a good example of whatever you're in the market for, you will see.

Speaker 1: 36:47

If you're in the market for trying to bring people to Jesus, you will see the lost and the hurting. Jesus did this. He saw people that were in pain, he saw people that were hurting, and he was able to See people Beyond the facade they put up. Now, was there some sort of Mass conspiracy when I was looking for a vehicle, when Tristan was looking for a vehicle, that all of a sudden the manufacturers put out 500 times more vehicles because I was looking? Or, excuse me, or was it because I was in the market? And so when I begin to pay attention to things, I begin to see what I wanted.

Speaker 1: 37:37

Now, if you see in your life negativity, the negative part of life, what's going to happen? You're going to be negative. If you see the pain and the hurt that what somebody did to you, what's going to happen? You're going to be bitter all the time. Because if you're in the market for something, if it's what you are subscribing to, subscribe to the channel, you will, by proxy, be looking for it all the time. If you think nobody likes you, you're going to assume every conversation you have they're hiding something, they're trying to manipulate, they're trying to do something and everyone is against you.

Speaker 1: 38:20

If you think, for instance, if you think like, if you believe, of course it's biblical, if you believe demons are real and they are. I have seen a manifestation when I was a small kid and then a couple of times in between, as a small kid and then a couple of times in between. But a lot of people, a lot of good church people, will say the devil is out to get me, when it's really not the devil. It's either self-inflicted or it's very possible God loves you enough to try to teach you something. So if you're in the market for unforgiveness, in the market for anger and hate. When you seek you'll find, but we have an option, a choice every day. So you know what I am going to forgive, you know what I am going to make a battle plan to get my peace back, because that's God's desire for every single believer.

Speaker 1: 39:20

So number three is the reframe principle. So let's look in the book of James, chapter one, verses two and four, two through four. Sorry, dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. I don't know about you, but I don't really think about opposition as opportunity. But when we have our mindset right, as what Christ tells us to do, it changes things. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

Speaker 1: 39:59

The refrain principle helps us change our perception of the events in our lives, changing how we view past hardships and future uncertainties, taking the focus off of what we see and how we feel. Feelings will jack you up, your feelings will mess you up. You'll get stuck in what you feel instead of what you know, and when you are in a state of uncertainty or you don't know which way to go, you'll end up because of the pressure you feel, the feelings that you're feeling, instead of basing your path, your steps, on facts, you'll end up stepping in the wrong direction and making bad choices under pressure. So breathe, just take it in and allow God. Allow the Spirit to lead you. So number four, the rejoice principle.

Speaker 1: 40:55

Now, this is the one I like. I like to get happy, I like to get like to, uh, enjoy life. It's terrible when you're feeling like always something is butting up against you, always to look at this philippians 4, 4 through 7. It says always be full of joy in the lord. I say it again rejoice. Let everyone see that you are, you are considerate in all you do. Remember the Lord is coming soon. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything, tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.

Speaker 1: 41:33

Now, what does this say? Does it say wait until God works it out for you and then praise him and rejoice? Or does it say always be full of joy and praise him for what he has done? So that's telling us that, in spite of what he has done, in spite of how we feel, in spite of the season we're in, that we should rejoice and praise him and thank him because he is God and he is good. That's the bottom line.

Speaker 1: 41:57

This is the rejoice principle, and this should emphasize to you the power of praise. So I don't know if you've been in the bad season before, but I have. I've been in a few of them, some self-inflicted, some out of my control. Either way, it doesn't matter. I'm not called to nitpick and tell God what his business is, and if my life belongs to him, then what he decides is what he's going to do, and that's it. So, that being said, I have chosen in my life, when a bad season comes or issues happen, to rejoice in spite of what things look like, in spite of how I feel and that puts me in a posture of great perspective that my joy and my peace can't be robbed from me. And you know, joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit and peace is one of the fruits of the Spirit. And so I feel when the devil tries to attack us and tries to rob us of these things, he's trying to attack the spirit through us.

Speaker 1: 43:07

We had uh, we have discipleship class on wednesday nights. It's a smaller one-on-one, about 20 or 30 people, and we were talking about the fruit of the spirit and we kind of had fun with it. We told the opposite of what, what some of the fruit of the spirit are, and and then we were asked who who had issues with the fruit of the spirit? And I don't have issues with producing the fruit of the spirit. I believe the enemy attacks me in a personality quality that I have that will rob me of the fruit of the spirit. If that makes sense, let me explain. So I am.

Speaker 1: 43:46

If you know me personally, or if you've been on this podcast at all, you know I like to joke around, I like to have a good time. Uh, I am a person who likes to laugh. I come from a family of laughter. Like we make jokes, we pick on each other, we mess with each other. We always have something smart to say. I got in trouble so many times as a kid because of my smart mouth and I was good at it and I still am.

Speaker 1: 44:08

But, that being said, laughter always being a part of my life. So it seems to be that joy was kind of a natural state that I constantly stayed in. So having that fruit of the spirit was not hard for me because I always found joy in life. So it wasn't like I was like I've never had a job. I didn't like I've had hard work, hard jobs, but I've never had a job. I actually didn't like.

Speaker 1: 44:35

Like I enjoyed being there If there was people there. Even if there wasn't, like I used to drive a forklift at a Walmart warehouse. I'd be by myself for several hours, you know, getting stuff out of the racks and putting pallets up and all this other stuff. I was having a blast. I'd be singing a song or whatever. I'm just in my own little world. I don't care. I love people. But if I'm by myself I'm having fun. If I'm with people, I'm having even more fun.

Speaker 1: 44:56

But it seems that when, when I have issues in me, it seems that the enemy attacks that joy area. So he tries to rob me of my laughter. He tries to rob me of that joy. And so ask yourself, like, okay, today's podcast is the battle plan of peace. All right, fine, maybe peace isn't what you need to make a battle plan for. Why do we want to make a battle plan? Because we want to prepare before the pressure hits.

Speaker 1: 45:27

How many times have you I know I've done this several times you something all of a sudden, out of your control, blindside you. You have no clue where it came from, you have no clue how it happened and all of a sudden, out of your control, blindside you. You have no clue where it came from, you have no clue how it happened and all of a sudden you're standing there in the middle of the mess and you're supposed to pick up the pieces or you're leaning on everybody else because everything blowed up. And now you're wondering what do I do next? Now, which is more advantageous for us to do Plan before the battle hits or try to play cleanup after the battle destroys? I have done the cleanup part and it is miserable. So what I've decided to do in my life?

Speaker 1: 46:12

I actually did this earlier, like I was planning this podcast today. I try to do it on Mondays and there was everything that would come against me trying to schedule this, like I was going to schedule it for 6.30 or 7, something like that. We even ate early and literally everything kept going wrong. We went to one place to get some water and the water was gone. It was just. It was just some weird fluke and I could feel. I could feel my blood boiling a little bit because I had plans. I don't know if you've ever done this. But when you have plans and things go against those plans, you seem to be, uh, not a fun person to be around. That's me.

Speaker 1: 47:04

I'm driving and I feel it rising, like I could feel my anger getting worse. I'm driving with my two kids in the back, my wife in the passenger seat, and and I'm like, and it just it hits me for a second. It's like why? Why am I letting this get to me? I don't have to. I have not scheduled it yet. I don't have to. I can just go live when I want. So why don't I just enjoy my family time and stop worrying about what's going on and what's stopping me from doing other things I had planned to do? And I told my wife in the truck I was like listen, if I don't get to live stream tonight, it's fine. She was like no, no, no, no, you're going to. I was like listen, it's a podcast episode, it's not important to family. And so it was like I took the control back. I felt it rising, I felt the pressure, I felt the anger, I was upset and I took control back before the damage was done.

Speaker 1: 48:09

Why I had things in my mind that I was going to smart off and say to my wife about things not working out and this and that, and we should have planned things better. And I was like you know what, why don't I use the gift of restraint and just keep this to myself, and that way I won't do any damage? And that's exactly what I did. But here's the facts. I can try to help you with the battle plan until the day that I die, but if you are not a person who is willing to sit down and maybe you need to do this maybe you need to get a pen, you need to get a paper. You need to sit down and say okay, if this happens, think, think about your.

Speaker 1: 48:52

If you're married, get with your spouse, ask them, say, listen, what is it that you see in me? Or get somebody that you love and trust. If you don't want it to be your spouse, that's okay. If it's causing issues, or maybe right now that's a serious issue and you can't talk to your spouse like that. My wife is my best friend, so we can talk like that. God has blessed me with a woman that I can actually say whatever I want to to and work things out Even my struggles and issues and pain, and she loves me, embraces me and just prays for me. It's a beautiful thing. You may not have that. Just because I do doesn't mean you do.

Speaker 1: 49:27

So let me ask you this Is there somebody in your life and if you're a believer, even if you're not a believer somebody you love and trust, that you know will speak truth to you without the um, without the purpose of hurting you? So they love you, they care for you and if you were to ask them hey, do you think I have a pride problem that they and listen? Here's the hard part. It's easy to ask people questions, especially when you're expecting a good, positive answer. But you have to prepare yourself in here that when you ask somebody you love and you care about and you actually trust to give you good, honest, wholesome answers and they actually give that to you. You have to, even if you got to step away and chew on it, even if you got to say, okay, I need to think about that and hang up whatever you got to do, but it will be for your betterment. No discipline feels good at the time, but if it's implemented over and over and over and over, repetition will produce replication and you will be stronger and better for it in the end if you allow them to speak truth into you. That's hard. So my biggest question is to you.

Speaker 1: 50:45

I know it's labeled the battle plan for peace. What is it that you've allowed the enemy? What is it that you've allowed your job? And listen, let's get personal for a second. This is why maybe it's not a good fit for you and your spouse to talk about this. What is it that you and your spouse, what have they been robbing you of? It may be your peace, it may be your joy, but I guarantee you this I've been in a bad marriage and now I'm in a good one to two different people, not the same person, and now I'm in a good one to two different people, not the same person. And I know this that, whether it's good or bad, I still have a part to play in it.

Speaker 1: 51:31

I don't know your situation. I don't know if it's your job. I don't know if it's kids. It could be your small kids. I know we have a toddler right now. She just turned one, lord knows. Sometimes the kids can make you want to pull your hair out. You love them. Sometimes you want to love them from a distance, just to get a little bit of peace back. You know what I mean. Maybe it's a sibling, a brother and sister, mom or dad, grandma, grandpa, whatever it is. What is it in your life that's been robbing you of your peace? What has been robbing you of your joy? What has been robbing you and taking from you and it seemingly never gives back, so you feel depleted.

Speaker 1: 52:08

I'm a pastor, so in ministry this happens all the time and sometimes I feel it pretty heavy because I pastor a church, but I also work full-time work a lot, and so sometimes for me to get pulled in so many directions all the time it feels like my head's about to explode. But I'm the kind of person that I will. I will love my wife when she's feeling that way and I will hold her and I will tell her it's going to be okay. And I will never tell her that I'm feeling the same, because and I'm not saying it's right, I'm just telling you, I'm being honest with you it's like I feel like I'm supposed to be the strong one, that I can't let her know that I'm hurting too. It actually strengthens the relationship between us because we're both feeling, going through some emotional issues right now and we're loving each other. She's not now, she is not by herself, and it just took some pride for me to get over to say you know what I feel it too, and all this is great. All these points are great. You know four points. Amen. It's points are great. You know four points.

Speaker 1: 53:21

Hey, man, it's this, it's a, it's a full sermon, but if you don't have the courage for application, then this was a wasted podcast for you to listen to. You can listen and read to all the self-help books you can. You can go through and listen to all the best preachers and messages, and you know, you know, you got this, you know. But if you don't apply anything and you don't start self-examining and self-assessing, my my go-to for me that works, because it's biblical is when something is wrong, I immediately ask myself what am I doing wrong? And even if I'm not in the wrong, I know that I can be wrong for not being compassionate and loving and looking past when someone else is wrong, and that's biblical as well. So, as believers, we should look at ourselves, we should look at the world, we should look at our problems through the lens of Christ.

Speaker 1: 54:36

Now the first question you want to ask yourself whether you know God or whether you don't. If you don't know God and you don't understand what I'm talking about, I want to show you a scripture and I really think it'll make some sense to you a little bit. And it's some strong verbiage, just hold on, okay. So listen to this. Romans 8, 6, it says so. Letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death, and so this death is more of a spiritual death now and later. So you're not getting life from Christ. But letting the spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

Speaker 1: 55:18

God's desire for every believer is for us to live in peace. His desire is not for us to live some half-cocked, shoot-from-the-hip life. We have purpose, we have meaning. That's the beautiful thing about God is that he cares enough for us to design us for a purpose, to drop little seeds in our hearts as children that we can grow up and we do things. And it may be an astronaut, it may be a yard guy, it may be a maintenance guy, a janitor, maybe a preacher. It may be an evangelist going and preaching. It may be a worship leader, or it may be just a good church, solid church goer that prays for people. Every person has a part in the place. But you won't be content where you are if you are being robbed of your peace.

Speaker 1: 56:16

But we are promised that through Christ, we are made more than conquerors. God is more than conquerors. God is more than enough. Let me be very clear.

Speaker 1: 56:25

Some motivational speakers that they label themselves as pastors they will tell you keep doing what you're doing. God will bless you. You got this. You are more than enough. Your blessing is coming, it's on its way. It's a bunch of nonsense. You will never measure up. If you did measure up, if you were good to go, you wouldn't and I wouldn't need Christ. But because we are sinners, we are not able to do for ourselves what Christ did. We need him, we must lean on him, we must trust him and, that being said, god not you, but God is more than enough and all he wants is you.

Speaker 1: 57:11

There's a scripture in the Bible I can't remember where it's at off the top of my head, but it's talking about us being willing vessels, and I said this last Sunday. I was like you know what One thing that I believe that God desires for his people? He wants brokenness to be back in the church. And why do you say broken? He wants me to be broke. No Brokenness Like when I gave my heart back to God.

Speaker 1: 57:34

There was the level of brokenness when I took over this church over here in Longview. We lost somebody to death very close to me Actually several people in a row that were very close to me and there was a brokenness. And in that brokenness it was like when the ground has to be toiled and broken up for good seed to be planted and the crop to grow. I feel that's what God did in my life and I feel that if I want seed to be, for the Spirit to be able to put seed in my heart so that the fruit of the Spirit can grow, I need to remain broken. And so, willing vessels, I want to be a broken vessel. And what do I mean by that? When God pours out into me, I want to be broken so that I seep out and I pour out on other people. Through the cracks. Through my brokenness, I can pour out on other people. Now think about that for a second. God gave me that this past Sunday and to me that's a pretty amazing visual of God pouring out into me and through that outpouring, my brokenness actually allows for other people to receive as well, and I believe that's what God wants for all of us. I believe that God desires for us to not be selfish Christians, but for us to go and make disciples, as the last mandate that he said before he left this earth was go, preach, preach, make disciples, baptizing people in the name of the father, son and the holy ghost. So thank you so much for all of you. If you haven't, please make sure to hit that like button and subscribe to the channel.

Speaker 1: 59:13

If you're on facebook, you can follow the faith and failures facebook. We also have a group of over 700 people. It's a private group. You can ask questions there and not be judged, instead of posting them online. But if you have a group of over 700 people, it's a private group. You can ask questions there and not be judged, instead of posting them online. But if you have a question, a biblical question or stuff that's going on in our culture right now, I would love to answer you. Just comment on any video and ask the question and I will make a video specifically for that. I have some coming up about. Well, I'm not going to tell you, I'm going to wait and let it simmer. So I love you all. I'm praying for you and I hope you all have a great rest of your week and God bless you.